, and are left to find silver where they can; so
that, in effect, it is little more than a private concern. The work is
performed by four die-presses, moved by levers, each of which requires
ten men; and about twenty thousand pieces can be produced daily from
each press. But this method of working is attended with unequal
pressure, and causes both trouble and uncertainty: it is even necessary
that each coin should be separately weighed. The extreme superiority of
the machinery of our own mint, where the whole operation is performed by
steam, with a rapidity and accuracy altogether astonishing, affords Just
reason for exultation to an Englishman.--It is true, that the execution
of our bank paper rather counterbalances such feelings of complacency.
Footnotes:
[105] This appears from the following inscription now upon a silver
tablet placed near it.--"Ce tableau est celui qui fut donne par Louis
XII, en 1499, a l'Exchiquier, lorsqu'il le rendit permanent. C'est le
seul de tous les ornemens de ce palais qui ait echappe aux ravages de la
revolution: il a ete conserve par les soins de M.
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